Judge sets bond for man arrested after chase in stolen vehicle

By Live 5 News Web Staff and Karina Bolster| June 28, 2016 at 3:33 PM EST - Updated July 9 at 6:20 PM

Rivers at his bond hearing Tuesday morning. (Source: Live 5)

Deputies say the stolen vehicle crashed into a fence off Montague Avenue. (Source: Live 5)

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The man accused of leading police on a chase Monday afternoon in a stolen vehicle believed to have been connected to three escaped inmates faced a bond judge Tuesday morning.

Devante Rivers faces charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, failure to stop for blue lights, driving under suspension and speeding, according to court records.

A magistrate judge set a $77,105 surety bond for Rivers.

The owner of the vehicle, who did not wish to appear on camera, attended the hearing Tuesday morning and said she would never have thought this would happen to her and now she is left having to rent a car.

The victim said she only recently purchased the vehicle and is unsure whether she wants to keep it because she does not know who was in the vehicle since it was stolen.

Detectives say a deputy spotted a gray Volkswagen Passat on I-526E Monday matching the description of a stolen vehicle. But when the deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop, the vehicle sped away, turning onto Dorchester Road then onto West Montague Avenue, making "several erratic turns," an affidavit states.

Deputies say Rivers then turned back onto Montague Avenue where the pursuit ended at the I-526 onramp where the vehicle Rivers was driving ran into a fence. Rivers then fled the vehicle on foot and was apprehended by a Charleston County K9 unit in a nearby swamp, the affidavit states.

The vehicle he was driving, deputies say, matched the description of a vehicle that was believed to have been driven by the third of three escaped inmates from Dorchester County jail.

Patrick Phillips

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